Will christy



ing is a specification.

' derstood, I will proceed to describe it with ref- UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

ILL OHRISTY, OF AKRON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-IIALF TO JAMES OIIRISTY,JR, OF SAME PLACE.

SWITCH FOR ELECTRIC-MOTOR TROLLEYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 402,064, dated April23, 1889.

Application filed December 27, 1888.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILL OHRISTY, a cit zen of the United States,residing at Akron, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, have i11-vented a certain new and useful Switch for Electric-Motor Trolleys, ofwhich the follow- My invention relates to the switches which serve todeflect electric-railway trolleys from one to another of severalbranching overhead line-wires at junction-points; and the object of myinvention is to produce a simple and inexpensive form of trolleyswitchwhich shall be entirely self-acting and perfectly reliable in operation,and which may be readily applied to and removed from its operativeposition.

To the above purpose my invention consists in the peculiar and novelfeatures of form, construction, and arrangement herein after described,and specifically pointed out in the claim. V

In order that my invention may be fully unerence to the accompanyingdrawings,.which form a part of this specification,and in which Figure lis a plan view of a line-wire junction with my improved switch appliedthereto. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, the trolley being shownin a diiferent operative position. Fig. 3 is an under side view of the 7switch in detached condition. Fig. 4 is a reversed view of the same.

In the said drawings, Aand B designate two overhead line-wires of anelectric-railway or other motor system, which at the point J branch offfrom each other, so as to form the branches A B, respectively, suchjunctionpoint being perpendicularly above a similar junction of therailway or tracks. (Not shown.)

C designates my improved trolley-switch, which is approximately of Yform, being composed of the stem 0 and the arms 0 c diverging from eachother at one end of said stem, and preferably formed integrallytherewith at their points of union with the same. At the point ofseparation of the branches or arms 0 c from the stem 0 a concavo-convexweb, 0 which preferably forms an integral part of the switch, extendsoutward a suitable distance toward the extremities of the arms 0 0 asSerial No. 294,762. (No model.)

shown. When the switch is in operative position, the concave side of theweb is underneath the switch. 7

c c designate two grooves or channels,which are formed upon the underside of the stem 0, and which converge toward the point of union of thestem with the arms 0 0 so as to communicate with the under surface ofthe web 0 c designates an elongated flange or rib, which extendslongitudinally of the stem 0 on its under side, and which is preferablyformed integrally with said rib, as shown. The. contour of the loweredge or margin of the rib c is approximately that of half of an ellipse,the line of curvature being, however, quite full or blunt contiguous tothe web 0 and quite grad ual at the opposite point, substantially asshownin Fig. 2.

The switch is secured in position by means of wrappings d d d of wire,the wrappings (Z d embracing the branched wires A B and the arms 0 c ofthe switch, and the wrapping d embracing the stem-c and contiguousportions of the line-wires A B. I The line-wires A B are preferablybound togetherby wrappings d (1 similar to those above described, and anotch, 0 is made in the upper part of the stem 0 to receive the lowerstrands of the wrapping d In order to securely retain the various parts,the several strandsof each of the above-described wrappings are heldtogether by solder, so as to effectually prevent dislocation of theadjacent parts.

The switch itself is made of brass or other electrical conductor, andall of its parts are preferably formed integral with each other,although if separable no departure from the essential spirit of myinvention will result.

T designates the trolley, which isof the usual or any preferred form,and the operation of the switch in connection with the trolley is asfollows:

It is to be borne in mind that the trolley trails behind the car as itpasses the switch, so that the trolley is drawn into an oblique positionrelative to the axial center of the linewires. This oblique position ofthe trolley causes the trolley-wheel to engage at one or the other ofits marginal flanges with either the groove 0 or 0 and thusautomatically deflect the trolley upon either the branch 0 or 0 oreither from the branches 0' 0 upon the main wires A B, according to thedirection of the car. In thus passing in either direction along thejunction of the overhead Wires the web 0 preserves the electricalcontact between the trolley and the line-wires, and thus maintains thenormal power of the motor.

From the above description it will be seen that I have produced a simpleand compact form of switch, which may be readily applied to theline-Wires at the points of juncture, and which is entirely automaticand perfectly regular in its action.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

\VILL CHRISTY.

In presence of C. P. HUMPHREY, JNo. L. CoNDRoN.

